In single image render trail of moving objects
It is possible by using Animation nodes. 



Here is a setup for duplicating and distributing objects on every frame: 




  there are multiple markers that I would like to render the trails of.
  Furthermore it seems impossible to set a maximum lengh of how far the
  trail goes into the past.


For more control nodes are more complex. This node-setup gets objects from group and arranges markers between selected frames:





I provide blend-file (note, AN must be enabled):